Royal Hyderabadi Nizams – Food Festival, Marriott Whitefield

Marriott Whitefield is one of the most popular restaurant in the city that hosts various Food Festivals on a regular basis. These festival focus on bringing a cuisine from a specific region of the country. The guests staying at the hotel or the ones who come to dine-in, get to enjoy the variety. This speaks volumes of the mastery of cuisine by the Chefs at hotel. Chef Madhusudham from Hyderabad brings the food from Hyderabad from royal Khansamas kitchen to re-create the food which was cherished by Nizams. The festival has been brought in at an apt time when Ramzaan is just round the corner. Let me share my experience of the food tasting session I had been to recently.

Ambiance
The taste of the food along with the presentation plays a key role in enhancing the overall experience.
Dishes prepared are segregated to various section including – Shorba & Appetizers, Main Course and Deserts.
Food is setup just next to M-Café entrance, will helps guests to be aware of the Hyderabadi Festival as they walk in. They can get to see the dishes and choose to take it for their dinner.

Food
We all are aware of many contemporary dishes part of Hyderabad region and their flavours. But when the same is prepared in Bangalore, it is very essential to get the authenticity in terms of taste and flavour in every dish.

Shorba – There were 2 varieties including Tomato aur Jhinga (Non-Veg) & Makai aur Badami (Veg). Veg soup was quite tasty and I could feel the taste of Almond & Corn in it. It was not too watery and a little thick, tasted well with soft bread.

Appetizers – Chef identified set of 5 appetizers to be served as part of appetizers. There were 3 Veg options Arbi Aur Channa Ki Tikki, Subz Tarkari Tikki and Nawabi Paneer Tikka. Each of the dishes were mouth-watering and tasty. I loved the Nawabi Paneer Tikka and Arbi Aur Channa Ki Tikki.

Main Course – We all love eating appetizers but also need the main course to be good. There were 6 variety of items that were prepared for the fest which included, Gravy Dishes & Biryanis.

Veg Gravy option included Paneer Pista Korma and Ambada daal which were really good. They were the perfect dishes to be taken along with any Indian breads.

Biryani – There was Mutton, Chicken and Veg Biryani option. I could not taste the Non-Veg biryani options but the Veg Biryani tasted very good with ‘Tamatar Ki Salan’.

Haleem – Traditional Hyderabadi dish that contains Mint Choi, Brown Onion, Lime wedges, Boiled egg, Coriander soup and served with Mutton is one of the favorite Non-Veg dishes among the Nizams.

Deserts – This is a section that we all love. But to be able to pick and choose among the best of deserts from Hyderabadi cuisine is rather difficult. Uroosa, Poothani, Double Ka Meetha, Cham Cham, Phal/Fruit Kheer and Mysore-Pak were available for picking in this section.

Each and every desert was really good but my favourite among them included Poothani & Uroosa.

Overall Experience
It is always wonderful trying out food from different cuisines coz the spices used in the preparation vary and so does taste & flavour. Chef has been successful to bring the authentic Hyderabadi flavour into the dishes. Specially loved the Shorba, Veg Biryani with Tamatar Ki Salan and some of the deserts. I recommend everyone to go try the food prepared as part of Hyderabadi Festival @ Marriott Whitefield as it is on only for few more days. I rate my current experience at 4.0/5.